19 June 2009

Beef is on the Menu at Brüno's "Pink Light" Brothel in Amsterdam

Sacha Baron Cohen continues the antics as "Brüno," the flamboyant fashion reporter. The comedian and fauxmosexual jetskied through a canal in Amsterdam's Red Light District to announce the grand opening of the "Pink Light" brothel.

" 'For too long, guys coming here from around the world have been forced to have sex with women,' Cohen said, standing in front of a pink-lit brothel building in the Dutch capital as surprised tourists and stag party goers looked on. 'It gives me great pleasure to declare Amsterdam's pink light district officially open for business,' he said, as about a dozen men emerged from behind curtains at the windows of a three-story brothel."

Brüno's fashion sense may be extreme, but his taste in beefcake is impeccable. Oh and the "fashion reporter" slash madam says the young man on the right "has been booked for the entire week."

Bruno is the Gay Minstrel Show, just like "Men on Film" back in the old "In Living Color" Days.

Just because Bruno exposes the heterosexism of the Majority doesn't mean he doesn't play Minstrel at the expense of Queers.

I am rather suprised at the extent to which Bruno is celebrated by Queers. But I guess its no different than our support of a Democratic Party that created DOMA and DADT under Bill Clinton. That is, we have yet to grow beyond our internalized heterosupremacy and the willingness to accept the second class status, particularly as the brunt of Breeders' jokes.

They are laughing at us, not with us. Sasha Cohen might amuse us if he really was a bottom. Then it's a case of us laughing at ourselves.

This doesn't bother me at all, its a caricature (sp?) and these usually are the epitome of behavior. To be honest and I may be stepping into hot water...but there are a few fashion reporters who are like this mkay?

I agree the character is somewhat offensive. But it's almost as offensive as you trying to start another Clinton v Obama flame.
Do you go into every random post and start talking about the Clintons, DOMA and DADT? You (or "JT" is that you??) are clearly obsessed with former first couple and "heterosexist" supremacy.

DADT was 16 years ago and DOMA was 13 years ago. The country had a helluva lot worse attitude toward gays back then.

But to Tre and Elton, there are soome very flamboyant gay men om television. I also would ask do they bother you? I ask Joseph the same thing ... ?

I'm not offended in the least by this stereotype. It just isn't "funny", no haha to me, just seen this schtick before. Joseph makes a point about the Dems, they are spineless tho, but that's not funny either.

Are we supposed to laugh because he is mincing and lisping ... or making some people uncomfortable?

Amsterdam and Holland isn't necessarily as white as you think. There are a huge number of North Africans and Turks, as well as many Indonesians. These men could be from or have roots in the Caribbean (Aruba, Netherlands Antilles, St. Maarten etc) or West Africa. There are so many ethnicities in AMS.

Gay minstrelsy can be funny when it is performed by Queers-- as I said in my post. A Gay minstrel performed by a proudly effeminate "Queen" might be hilarious. Ain't no PC here. Ain't no fear of "flamboyant" gay men either. As Queer, one of my privileges is to flame out.

When performed by Breeders, Gay minstrelsy is at the expense of Queers. If is not "PC" to say this. It is sober awareness of how heterosupremacy dominates us and defines us.

FQ, my comments about Bill Clinton weren't an attack on "The Clintons", but an attack on the whole Democratic Party. I'm not out to get the Clintons; I just think that Obama is following their example. I just wanted to re-emphasize that Democratic leader Bill Clinton made DOMA a law and DADT a policy, which we are now asking other Democrats (Obama and Congress) to repeal. Queer support of Democrats seems pitifully ironic-- similar to the pitiful irony of Queers paying money to see Breeders make fun of us and the beauty of our freedom to be effeminate.

Does "Bruno" make the world safer for little effeminate boys in elementary or high school being attacked by bullies? I think not. Instead, he reinforces breeder disdain for queer folk. Sorry if that is too "PC" for you.

Do Queers really believe that Eminem is suddenly now so Queer-friendly that his performance with "Bruno" was meant to support us, not demean us? When 2 Breeder men make a joke at our expense-- must Queer folk laugh so as not to seem "PC"? What if one of those jokers-- Eminem-- has a history of anti-Queer behavior? Am I still to join in the chorus of laughter?

I AM IN FULL AGREEMENT. Just not funny. Period. I don't think that this will be another hit because the WOW of "BORAT" was the simple ignorance of BORAT, who was "covered" by being from another country and not knowing the ways of various people.

That, coupled with madcap humor, was brilliant.

This--stereotypical behavior, vulgar dress, crude gay references--isn't smart, it's smarmy. Would I like it if it was a gay man acting like this? NO! Are there gay men who act like this? YES! But they don't get movies made about them. They don't get to be full characters and expressed people. They get to be pushlines in somebody else's bad joke.

Just wondering if the people who find Bruno so offensive, are the same ones who found Tyler Perry's drag inoffensive. And if I remember correctly, not all of the cast of Noah's Arc officially declared themselves as gay. Are they offensive because they could possibly be straight?

@soulbrotha: I think you ask an excellent question. Just 4 quick points. 1-i largely believe that "heterosupremacy" is self-inflicted in many ways; no one can define me but me, unless i let them which i don't. 2-sacha isn't doing anything that flip wilson, jamie foxx, and countless other actors have done..all str8 but we don't condemn them..and i'm not condeming them would serve a purpose. 3-we don't have gay actors doing gay films, i.e. Noah's Arc which was horrible and misrepresentative in my opinion. 4-the comparison to black minstrel shows is way too melodramatic and there aren't nearly parallels

Cohen practices "parody and satire" like it's a religion. He's the Andy Kaufman of our time. He is commentary on gay culture, is no different than what he's done with Ali Gi & Borat. Utilizing the characters to make some fun @ the expence of International Citizens and Hip Hop. But if you really pay attention to his work, it lowers the defenses of the so called "normal" people and embarass them by revealing their hatred, homophobia, ignorance, and arrogance.

Please check out his Ali G, Borat, or Bruno on youtube. The evidence of his brilliance is already there.